Bad Beat

by Melda Burke

Betty 'Bet' Stillwater isn't exactly what you'd call badass; she's insecure, she's better off wielding the written word than guns, she's never been outside of Vault 81, she's only good at making moonshine and she's allergic to nearly every chem under the sun. So, yeah, she's kind of a loser, but she's determined to help make the world above into a better place piece by piece.

4. Chapter 4

A/N: PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU CONTINUE. I just wanted to stop for a moment and say thank you to everyone who has favorited and followed this story so far. It's nice to know that you all truly enjoy it because I've spent a year and four months writing this out and getting it to the point where I was satisfied with the plot, the characterization, the degree of detail, the quality of dialogue, and other such things. It is pretty much finished, so you won't need to worry that I'll give up on it. I've just been taking the time to run it past Grammarly to re-check it for really obvious errors. Also, I wanted to make a note on my OC. One of my main reasons for giving her the backstory that I did was to emphasize how abuse can literally shape a person and how hard it can be to reclaim one's life after a long history of it. So many people tend to use 'abused' characters to garner sympathy from the audience, which is a cheap and lazy writing tactic, in my opinion. Unfortunately, the abuse is often mentioned once and then never mentioned again or the character ends up seeming to be overly dramatic about it. This is not my intention. I intend to portray a character who has gone through real trauma, both mental and physical, and to make it truly feel like it has stuck with her. I want her to evolve because I firmly believe that while a person's past cannot be changed, that one can change as a person. I hope I'm making that transition clear and believable. I welcome criticism if that is not the case. On a final note, I would like to point out that there is a lot of graphic stuff from this chapter on and if you are likely to be upset (because the word 'triggered' is ridiculously overused) by; in-depth mentions of past abuse, evidence of abuse, graphic violence and bloodshed, explosions, drug use, mental/emotional abuse, death or mentions of death, past situations involving dubious consent to sexual activity, and/or giant green-skinned humanoids, I politely suggest that you should avert your attention to another story. If you've stuck through this entirely, thank you. If you got bored half-way through and gave up, thank you. If you skipped this entirely, thank you. Peace, love, and peanut butter ~Melda

P.S. Did anyone else writing a Fallout fic with Grammarly have it try to correct 'mutfruit' to 'butt fruit'? Lmao.

What they found at the bottom of the steps was hardly anything to be joyful about, however. Sturges had stumbled through the door. He looked beaten to hell; bruises covered a majority of his body and congealed blood had matted one side of his pompadour down. Dirt and dust, the amount of which managed to exceed the typical Commonwealth coating, made his skin a shade darker in some areas. Rivulets of sweat made tracks in the dirt on his skin. "I…ugh..need-." He pitched forward, but Hancock caught him before the man's head hit the floor.

"Why did you come here first and not go straight to Dr. Amari?!" Bet exclaimed loudly as she cut the straps on his armor to get it open to examine his wounds

Sturges shook his head and seemed dazed. "I…uh..I don't know." He snapped angrily. "Stop asking me questions!" He backed up into the wall and slid down it with a furious, yet confused expression. Hancock started to check him over, but the man just waved a dismissive hand. He was unwilling to leave the injured man, yet he was also bereft of any other choice. After a second of indecision, Hancock sprinted down the street to the Memory Den to hunt down the doctor.

Amari, upon hearing the situation, rushed out the door and into the warehouse. Bet pressed a blood-soaked rag over the mechanic's worst wound; a gash that ran from the middle of his forehead to his ear. "I don't see any bullet wounds-" Bet said with worry evident in her voice. "but I'm not sure if we should jostle him around much just to check."

"If he does have a bullet in him, then it would be more important than the head wound." Hancock commented as he prepared a syringe of Med-X for Amari to give to Sturges.

"We'll have to do it, but I don't want to risk moving him too much. Get me some purified water, please." Amari said to the concerned mayor.

"What about the cut on his head?" Bet asked almost desperately. "It won't stop bleeding!"

Amarie swiftly checked over the typically cool-tempered man, who was thrashing about and resisting their attention to the best of his ability. "I believe he has a concussion, and his shoulder will need to be put back into place, but otherwise he's alright." She pressed a cool cloth firmly against the split and torn skin. "Hold that there, please." She handed a can of purified water to Hancock and ordered him to clean the mechanic's main wound as best as he could while she checked him over.

Sturges was very pale at this point and was gasping in pain. He grabbed at Bet's shirt and groaned as Amari prodded around in search of any bullet holes. He took a deep, shuddering breath. "You need….go to Diamond City…." He grunted as isopropyl alcohol was poured on to his wound to sterilize it. "Nora…she's hurt...hurt real bad."

She couldn't stand the sight of her friend being in such pain. "Is it possible to give him more Med-X?"

Amari glared at her through blood-spattered glasses. "No, that will thin his blood and that is the last thing we need, but a small shot of Calm-X should calm him down enough to keep him from struggling." Satisfied that no bullets had hit him, Amari went on to administer a stimpack into the thick muscle of his left arm. She growled in frustration because his forehead wound continued to leak blood while Bet and Hancock frantically fumbled through the orders she occasionally barked at them.

Bet held Sturges's head gently and petted his hair to the side as yet another wave of pain passed through him. "Ssh, it'll be alright." Hancock expertly found a vein in his friend's arm. He gave him the shot of Calm-X as quickly as he could. "Alright, just relax." He advised as he prepared to reduce the joint. "On the count of three, this arm will go back in. One, two-" He forced the bone back in and the mechanic let out an inhuman snarl of profanity mixed with indecipherable noises.

"You…said..on…three…." He growled.

Hancock crossed his arms. "Yeah, I lied. I do that on occasion." He said lightly. On the inside, however, his stomach was churning with anxiety. Blood covered the floor, yet the bleeding wound on his forehead had not slowed. He kneeled down to place a comforting hand on Bet's shoulder. "He'll be alright, sugar bomb." He struggled to hide the uncertainty in his own voice. "When we find the fuckwads that did this to him, I swear they'll suffer ten times as badly."

She looked appalled as Dr. Amari resolved to close the cut with stitches. "He'll be okay, though, right?" She cast a pleading look at the doctor, but Amari just sighed and wiped her forehead clean of sweat with the sleeve of her lab coat. A deep, unsettling fear for her friend's life weighed Bet down like a set of concrete shoes and she was drowning in a sea of uncertainty.

Hancock's expression was grim as he tightened his grip on her shoulder. "You'd better believe it. He's a fighter." Sturges had finally passed out from the pain of the procedure, so now the room was quiet except for the injured man's ragged breathing.

"We still can't risk moving him. We'll just have to put a few blankets under him and a few on top to keep him warm and comfortable. Even the most minor head wounds tend to bleed a lot, but he's still at risk for infection." Dr. Amari stood and retrieved her equipment, but left a handful of stimpacks. "One a day." She ordered. "I'll be around to check on him tomorrow morning."

Bet tucked her thickest blanket over her friend. Sturges was eased up on the mattress from her bed, which Hancock had lugged from upstairs. He decided to just keep her company in the office that night, just in case Sturges needed further help.

They used their coats for blankets and slept on the worn couches. It wasn't the most comfortable way to sleep for several reasons. Personally, he sat up for several hours staring intently at the ceiling. He wanted to be ready at the first sign of distress from his burly friend. Thankfully, the uncomfortable night passed with no problems. Still, he did not wake up until well into the next afternoon. Bet had to force back tears as she fed her friend Cram and gave him water to wash it down. Afterwards, she grabbed a stimpack and injected it. Finally, she checked his stitches. She was relieved to know he hadn't pulled any of his stitches out in his sleep, but fear and worry still gnawed like ravenous wolves at her guts.

Sturges recovered much more quickly than anyone expected. However, it was still a solid twenty-four hours before he felt well enough to hold a conversation. "So what happened out there?" Hancock handed him a plate of Blamco Mac 'N Cheese. In between scarfing down huge spoonfuls, Sturges told them a rather strange story. "We were on our way of Diamond City after trading for some of the stuff Bet would need, but Nora stopped by the security booth to ask Danny why he looked so nervous. Apparently, there was going to be an inspection by the new mayor that day." He snapped his fingers. "Just like that, the elevator doors slid open and in walked Mayor Miller. Nora was about to leave, but the mayor wouldn't leave us alone. She followed us all the way out to the gates and harped on Nora the entire way there. It was somethin' about letting ghouls waltz right in with no regards to the law." Sturges chuckled and winked at Hancock. "I'm guessin' she meant you, Jack."

Hancock grinned back. "I don't know about waltzing in, but I've done my fair share of staggering through those gates. Gotta be half drunk to even think about goin' near the place."

They all shared a laugh. Sturges gulped down some water before continuing his story. "Anyway, the four were just outside the gates when it happened. A band of super mutants came barreling at us. The turrets and the guards were letting off round after round, but it didn't seem to faze those things at all. A suicide with a bomb tucked into the crook of his arm was leadin' them on and I was sure our time had come. Fortunately, I guess, one of the bullets managed to hit the bomb and set it off before he was close enough to actually kill us. I was the closest to the explosion and it knocked me back against the wall. I remember my skull hit the wall and then I think I blacked out for a moment." He rubbed his head ruefully. "When I came to, the dust was clearing up a bit. I guess the muties were pretty pissed off because they started lighting us up like nobody's business. I watched Nora take a couple slugs, but I could barely move to help her. Danny, though, he was all up in that scrap. The mayor was cowering behind him while he tried to beat them off with his bat, but they just knocked him aside like he was made of paper. He flew a couple of feet and slid head-first into an old lamppost. Nora had collapsed at that point, I was barely conscious, and Danny was too dazed to do anything when one of the mutants snagged the mayor and took off. They hadn't gone far by the time Danny regained his senses and he got up, grabbed his bat, and went after 'em. Nora and I tried to stop him, but she was losing blood fast and I wasn't much better off." He shook his head sadly. "I hope that kid's alright." His shoulders drooped guiltily.

"It's not your fault." Bet interjected. She reached out and squeezed his hand gently in an effort to provide comfort. "It's a miracle the bomb didn't kill all of you outright."

He smiled gratefully at her, but his eyes still seemed a bit haunted. "I lugged Nora back into the city and handed her over to the doc there. Valentine came rushing out of their house and I don't think I'll ever forget the look on that man's face when he saw how torn up she was." He shuddered as if the memory chilled him to the bone. "He tried to make me stay, but I'd gotten it into my head that you two should know what happened as soon as possible." He laughed weakly. "I suppose I become a stubborn blockhead when I'm concussed. I'll have to apologize next time I see him." He sucked in a sharp breath as Bet gave him his daily stimpack.

Bet decided to ignore the urge to chide him for not seeking medical attention before coming to get them. "Do you know if Nora will make it?" She asked him urgently while she disposed of the empty stimpack.

He ran a hand through his mussed pompadour. "I'm not sure. She was looking pretty bad. Preston would put his foot so far up my ass that I'd taste leather for life if she died." He made a face. "Goddamn, her detective would probably give him the lube, too." Bet sighed wearily and wiped her hand across her forehead.

"I'm so sorry." She said quietly. "I should never have asked for your help."

Sturges frowned sternly. "Shit happens in the Wastes. You had no idea that those muties would hang around so close to Diamond City. It's just as much your fault as it is mine if you wanna play the blame game." He grinned. "Did you have a look through my packs, though? We got some good stuff for your machine. I just can't wait until I'm back on my feet."

"I really appreciate your help with the machine, but I wish no one had gotten hurt over it." She thought for a moment. "Shouldn't we keep looking for Danny? I mean, the new mayor sounds like she's not exactly a great person, but we should put in the effort to find them both."

Sturges nodded. "It'll probably be pretty hard to find them. There's no tellin' where they're holed up at the moment."

"We gotta try, at least." Hancock played absently with his switchblade. "As soon as we can, we'll leave Goodneighbor and start hunting down the two of them."

"And we should stop by Diamond City to make sure Nora is alright." Bet added. "Maybe, if we can find them, the city will be grateful enough to give in to our request." She suggested hopefully, though she was not truly convinced that would happen. Bigotry was one of the things that assholes tended to cling to like a lifeline in any situation. "We should leave now to have any real hope of getting them back alive. We can ask Daisy to look after Sturges while we're gone."

Bet immediately set off to Daisy's pawn shop to ask her to look after their friend. In the meantime, Hancock set himself to the task of packing their bags for the journey. He took a quarter of the food and water that she had in her 'pantry' (a nice word she used for the beat-up china cabinet) to stuff into her tiny rucksack. He shook his head in amazement; the weapon which she'd bought the day they met was still the only weapon she owned. She didn't even have a knife, for fuck's sake! He grabbed an extra set of clothes for her, the small bit of worn leather armor she'd modified with KL-E-0's help, and headed over to the State House where he could further equip them. He stuffed a Brahmin-hide bag with medical essentials; stimpacks, bandages, antiseptic, and some med-x. He brought only a single tin of mentats since they would need to travel light and fast. After that, he opened up the safe full of assorted weapons and ammo that he'd found, looted, or bought. He grabbed a .10mm pistol, a second shotgun, and a single sniper rifle plus more than 200 bullets for each gun. He slung the rifle onto his back, and then shoved the other two guns and the ammo into a third bag. He had the presence of mind to grab a fourth (empty) bag, just in case they were lucky enough to find some loot on the way, and shoved it in. Satisfied with his preparation, he returned to her home. Daisy was already there and instructed on what to do with Sturges in their absence. The female ghoul gave them both a tight hug before they said their goodbyes.

Hancock handed her the bag of food and water, the rifle, and the pistol and the ammo for those weapons. The med bag he took for himself as well as the second shotgun and the rest of the ammunition. He didn't need much armor himself because Nora had kindly woven ballistic fiber into his usual duds months ago. They headed out of Goodneighbor with a mission on their minds and hope in their hearts.

Bet walked quickly over the crumbling asphalt and occasionally tripped on the uneven surface. Hancock darted on through the ruined houses on her right. She could hear him searching for useful supplies. However, he hadn't managed to find anything so far and it had been about two hours since they'd left.

Happily, she considered how lucky they were that they'd encountered no signs of raiders, mutated animals, or even a single super mutant. The way that Sturges had described it had her guessing that the band of muties had only just recently set up camp dangerously close to Diamond City. They were still at least a two and a half hour trek from the Jewel of the Commonwealth, which meant they were reasonably safe.

Hancock returned to her side clutching a couple of Jet canisters, a lighter, a half-empty pack of cigarettes, and a single dose of Med-X. "Jackpot!" He proclaimed proudly. Nora had taught him to be skilled with lockpicking (well, more skilled than he'd been before) during their time together. These goodies had been hiding away in a fairly secure lockbox, but he'd sprung the lock after a few tries. He placed the goods in the chem bag.

"Don't you always pick on Nora for hoarding junk?" She joked. She peered ahead of them with her hand shielding the sun from her eyes. She could have sworn she'd caught movement out of the corner of her eye.

"First of all, that is not junk." He grinned rakishly. "Secondly, I only tease her because her reactions are hilarious." Bet's eyes flicked to another hint of movement over his shoulder. "What? You see somethin'?" He turned on his heel and caught sight of the same shadow she'd noticed move quick as a flash around the next building. He put a finger to his lips, pulled out his shotgun and crept closer to the corner that the shadow had darted around. He charged into the alley and lit it up with a warning shot. There was a shriek of terror, then a short pause. "Get over here, you aren't gonna believe this!"

She scrambled her way over the rubble of a garden wall, and then rounded the corner into the alley. Hancock pointed at a pale, shivering man in torn clothes. "It's Danny." He said grimly.

"M-mayor Hancock?" The young man said incredulously. "I thought you two were raiders!"

"Same here." The ghoul replied. "How in the hell did you get away from the super mutants?"

Danny shuffled his feet shyly. "Well, after I caught up with them I stayed out of sight. I never actually got caught by any of them. I spent a few days watching their camp, memorizing their routines, and I even got a good look at their stock of weapons since they don't really bother to hide them. About two days ago, I accidentally made a noise and they found me out. I tried to get back to the city, but they had most of my escape routes blocked off. I outran them and hid in a dumpster, which they were too dumb to check. I spent that night in the dumpster, because I was too afraid to move from that spot. After that, I was pretty lost, so I've been wandering in the general area hoping that a passing trader or drifter could show me the way back."

Bet appeared confused as she listened to his story. "How did you get lost? I would have thought a kid growing up in Diamond City would have practically memorized the area in and around the place."

Danny bit his lip. "I..uh…haven't ever actually been outside the walls." He told her hesitantly. He blushed out of embarrassment. "But, it's not just me. Most of the people who were born there haven't gone outside. Besides, I've only been a guard for around six months now. I'm still green and they only want their most experienced soldiers patrolling outside the walls."

She handed over a bottle of water. "With the exception of everyone being too afraid to leave, I'd say that's the smartest thing I've heard about Diamond City to date." He drank down the entire can in under a minute. "You're a brave man. There aren't many people who'd have done what you did."

Hancock gave him a couple of mutfruits and a snack cake. "She's right, kid. Ya know, I think you should talk to Nora about joinin' the Minutemen sometime."

Danny nearly choked on his fruit. "Nora's alive? Jesus, she took five bullets by my count! That woman is a beast…"

She chuckled. "Don't we know it! She's in pretty bad shape, but she's hanging in there from what we heard. Sturges walked all the way back to Goodneighbor with a concussion and a dislocated shoulder to give us the heads up. He's resting back at my place."

"Do you think we should check up on her first?" Danny wiped his mouth on his ripped sleeve. "Or should we keep trying to get to the mayor?" He rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly. "They aren't going to let you in there to see her, Mayor Hancock."

Bet helped him to his feet. "Like Hell, they won't. C'mon Danny, let's get you back to Diamond City. You can grab some armor and some proper weapons, and then we can all go back to searching for Mayor Miller."

"T-thanks….uh…what's your name?" He asked by way of conversation.

She gave him a small smile. "Bet, it's nice to finally meet you. Apparently, you're one of the few decent people in Diamond City."

Danny blushed. "Well, it's not just me. Travis is a pretty cool guy, too, and I've always thought that the Bobrov brothers were nice." Hancock half-listened to the conversation. "Then, there's Piper, but she's kind of an acquired taste, you know? I'm sure you've met or heard about Nick. Everybody knows him. Takahashi's not bad either, but a conversation with him always feels a bit one-sided. Is this your first time going to Diamond City?"

"Yeah, but I've not heard very many good things." Bet's answer made Hancock smirk. "Nick sounds like he enjoys living there, though."

"Nick's easy-going, but sometimes people give him a hard time." Danny mentioned. "I don't like the way people treat him and if I had a say in it, Diamond City would be open to anyone." He paused for a moment. "Nick was my only friend as a kid. I was pretty puny, so the other kids loved to pick on me. He'd always pick me up and dust me off, and if he had a few extra caps he would take me to Power Noodles."

Bet looked both shocked and sad. "Why do people give him a hard time? He sounds so sweet!" Hancock had forgotten that she was still mostly ignorant of the whole issue with Synths and the Institute. It reminded him that so many people didn't really believe that the Institute was gone and, because they only knew how to live their lives in fear, they continued to dread the 'threat' of synths. Nora's romance with Nick was considered a rather scandalous and sordid affair. However, no one could do anything to them, except talk in hushed whispers because no one dared to challenge the notorious General.

"Because he's a synth." Danny told her, surprised.

"Is that all?" She frowned and shook her head. "I suppose I should've known. After all, if Diamond City is so prejudiced against ghouls, then why not other 'scary' non-humans." She grumbled. "It's a blessing that I live in Goodneighbor. I don't think I could handle living in a place like Diamond City." Pride swelled up in Hancock's chest, but he kept his mouth shut. He'd worked so hard to keep his town free, a place where judgment had no place, and to hear her speak so highly about it to another person was refreshing, to say the least.

"Did you say you live in Goodneighbor?" Danny paled a little and glanced over his shoulder at Hancock, who caught his eye with a brilliant smile. The red-headed man whipped his head back around and lowered his voice. "Have…have you ever been…you know…shanked there?"

Bet gave him a look comprised partially of disbelief and partially of amusement. "You can't be serious? Of course not! Is that what people say about it?"

"Well, it's got a bit of a…uh…reputation." Danny froze when Hancock clapped a hand on his shoulder.

"A gloriously disreputable reputation! And we're all proud of it." The Mayor proudly shined his fingernails on his coat. "To answer your question, my man, I will have you know that I've done my fair share of the shanking that goes on in my town. Although, we usually reserve it for special occasions." He grinned widely at them and she snickered at his joke.

"It's a Goodneighbor tradition to shank your mother-in-law on your wedding night." Bet interjected.

Hancock chuckled. "In Goodneighbor, feeling stabby is our motto!"

"Alright, alright, I'm sorry I asked." Danny rolled his eyes while his companions laughed at his faux pas. "Seriously, though, what are we going to do when we get back to the city?"

Her smile disappeared. "If we all run in, maybe we can make it to Nora's place before they can catch us."

"Well, it's not as if they could shoot us." Danny said. "None of the guards are allowed to carry guns if they aren't working outside patrols ever since-" He bit his lip. "I don't know if you heard about the incident with that ghoul woman, but-"

Bet and Hancock shared a look. "Yeah, we know about that. It's one of the reasons we're so anxious to rescue your new mayor. We think that we could change her mind if she's rescued by a ghoul and that maybe she'll change the rules."

Danny fiddled with the tattered edges of his shirt. "That's pretty ambitious and, guys, I'm not gonna lie about my opinion of taking your chances with that. I've met Mayor Miller and she's from the Upper Stands. I know you're not familiar with Diamond City politics, Bet, but that means she's from old money and even older prejudice. She's probably isn't keen on changing anything even if one of her rescuers is a ghoul."

"We still have to try." She replied stubbornly. "If it means getting justice for someone, and potentially saving a person's life, then we will do everything we can to help."

Hancock couldn't repress a wide and approving grin from growing on his lips. He was fully unrepentant of his decision to offer Bet a place in his town. She was proving herself to be exactly his style of trouble; the type of trouble that gave a middle finger to tyrants and sling bullets into the faces of bigots. He honestly hoped that she intended to stay in Goodneighbor for good. His town always had room for someone like her. Even if she wasn't the most adept fighter, he'd be more than willing to bring her into a real firefight now. He'd been apprehensive before they'd left, and honestly, he'd planned to go after the mayor on his own because he wasn't sure if she was ready to deal with super mutants, yet.

Now, however, he was rebuking himself. She deserved a chance to prove herself. He just had to hope that she wouldn't get herself killed. She was decent with a gun, but she'd had little hand-to-hand combat experience as far as he knew. Her upbringing had definitely put limitations on her combat skills, but at least she appeared to have a bit of confidence and drive.

"We should get Travis, Piper, and Nick to help, too." Danny's voice interrupted both the silence and Hancock's thoughts. "They're the only other people in Diamond City who've had real fighting experience."

"Sounds like we're rounding up quite the posse." Bet pointed straight ahead. "Hey, I can see the walls from here!" She took off at a run towards the stadium. Several guards were standing around the entrance to the city. A few more turrets than usual were positioned around the gate. She stopped before they got within sight of the guards, then grabbed Hancock's arm and Danny's hand.

Hancock glanced around to make sure none of the guards were looking in their direction. "We'll make a run for it on three, alright?" They nodded.

"One.." He started.

"Two…" She tightened her grip on them.

"Three!" They made a mad dash for the open gate. Shouts came from all around them. "Hey, whoa, whoa!" She turned her head in the direction of the voice. A Diamond City guard was tapping a baseball bat menacingly against his palm. "No ghouls in Diamond City, get that thing out of here." They chose to ignore him and kept running towards Home Plate. The guard reached out and grabbed her shoulder. "Did you hear me? I was talking to you, Wastelander!"

Her demeanor went from worried to furious in a split second. "I have no time for this bullshit. My friend might be dying, and if she dies before I get there I'll make you eat dirt!" She was screaming at that point and people had started to stare. The guard took a step back, but held up his bat in a warning stance.

Hancock stood between her and the scumbag guard. "Don't waste another breath on him, doll. Let's g-" The guard took a swing at his head. Thankfully, the mayor's reflexes were honed to such a degree that he was able to dodge the blow. Bet snarled at the guard and her hand went for her gun, but he stopped her. "Let's go." He pulled her forward.

They ran through the market with the guard hot on their tails. A couple of other guards followed the first asshole's lead, but Solomon 'accidentally' knocked over his case of empty jet inhalers into their path. Hancock put up a hand in a gesture of thanks as the guards slipped and fell heavily to the packed dirt of the market. He'd have to actually thank that man later, he thought as he slammed the door to Home Plate shut behind them.

Nick Valentine was pacing at the far end of the room while Doctor Sun worked frantically on Nora. She made short, pained whimpers through the leather belt she was biting down on. He had hooked her up to an IV with a bag of blood hung from the hook at the top. He snipped the medical tape he'd used to apply a fresh bandage, gave her a stimpack, and placed the expended medicinal chem on a surgical tray on her nightstand. "Five bullets to the torso, plus concussive damage from the explosion…" He mopped at his forehead with a handkerchief. "My god, Nick. How was she even still conscious?"

The synth was so beside himself that he only shook his head. He put a hand to his face in a very human display of grief. Bet and Hancock watched him cross the room and thread the fingers of his good hand through hers. "You must be Nick Valentine. I'm sorry we had to meet like this." Bet said. Her voice was feeble and shaky with emotion. "Is it really as bad as he said?" She glanced at the doctor with a horrified expression.

He pinned her with his neon eyes. "Half her ribs were broken, her collarbone is broken, she has a concussion and she's lost enough blood from the bullet wounds to bring her to the brink of death." His words sounded devoid of emotion, but one could tell that he was about to break.

"GET OUT HERE NOW OR WE'LL BREAK DOWN THIS DOOR!"

Hancock had engaged the numerous locks to keep the guards out, but the door was bending in and the wood was groaning under the pressure. Nick sighed wearily. "I'm gonna take a wild guess and say that's not your fan club."

Hancock cursed under his breath, but grinned. "You know me, Nickie, I have to beat 'em off me with a stick." He rushed over to Nora's bed. She'd passed out from the pain, but she was definitely in a bad way. He sat next to her. "Sturges sent us. He had a concussion and a dislocated shoulder, but that man's a tank. He walked all the way to Goodneighbor."

Bet fidgeted worriedly. "We'll leave soon, but the guards-"

Nick held up a hand to stop her. "Let me talk to them, I think one of 'em is sweet on Ellie, so maybe he'll listen to me in order to get on her good side. At the very least, I can buy you three a bit of time."

"Are you sure you don't want to come with us? We're going to save Mayor Miller." Danny spoke up.

"As much as I'd like to, I think it's better if I stay here to take care of my wife. There's a rooftop exit upstairs, you all need to get up there and make a break for it. The guards will take a little while to notice, so you should have enough time to do whatever you need to do." Nick pointed up at the hatch.

"We're gonna grab Piper." Hancock said.

"She's busy gathering info for an article about The Castle." Nick informed them over the increasing clamor of the guards.

"What about Travis?" Danny asked quickly.

"Travis?" Nick seemed doubtful of their choice in companions, but appeared to decide that they didn't have time to argue about it. "Yeah, I think the kid's holed up in his radio station HQ like always."

"Great, thanks, Nickie. We'll bring you back a souvenir!" Hancock pounded his old friend on the back. Nick showed them the way out, before heading out to distract the guards. They could hear him sassing the guards about bothering the gravely injured vaultie. In the meantime, they sprinted along the roofs as quietly as they could manage.

"Careful, we're gonna have to jump down." Hancock warned as they came to the end of the connected roofs. "Watch me, then you two can follow." He took a running leap and expertly rolled his way to a perfect landing.

"I-I don't think I can do this." Bet backed up from the edge. She'd always had a paralyzing fear of heights. "It's too far."

"Hey, don't worry. I promise I'll catch you. Ya trust me, right?" He opened his arms. "Close your eyes and jump."

She wanted to trust him, and she knew that every minute wasted on her fear was a minute that the guards could catch up. However, her body was refusing to move farther than a few feet towards the edge. "Bet, I'm sorry." Danny said sincerely from behind her.

"Sorry for whaaaaahhhhh!" She screamed as she felt him push her off the rooftop. The fall felt like forever and she swore that her heart stopped beating for the few seconds between the time that her feet left the roof and the time that she landed square in Hancock's arms. "OH, HOLY FUCK!" She glared at Danny as he swiftly joined them. "Don't you EVER-"

"Not the time for that, doll." Hancock shushed her and sat her back on her feet. She took a few unsteady steps, breathing hard and feeling more than little stunned. Her friends practically dragged her along the back alleys to Travis' little radio station.

Travis was in the middle of changing over holotapes when they burst inside. They gave him a very short run-down of the current situation. "I do owe Nora a favor." He reached under his desk and grabbed a small pipe pistol. "Let's go take those guys down and rescue the Mayor!"

"Hold on, you'll need more firepower than that." Hancock fished out a weapon for Travis from the rucksack. After a thought, he asked Bet to hand over the spare .10mm to Danny, too. "Are we all set?"

"I think so." Danny looked around at their ragtag band. "Let's get out of here." The guards that had gathered in front of Home Plate had dispersed in random directions to search for them. That definitely helped their odds of escaping because it would take the guards a little more time to alert each other. They cut their path through the back, around toward the Greenhouse and out into the scaffolding area that led to the Upper Stands and the Mayor's office. The guards spotted them just in time to catch a glimpse of the four of them scarpering out the gate.

Once they were far out of sight of Diamond City and its guards, they stopped to catch their breath. "You still owe me an apology for pushing me off that goddamn roof!" Bet panted.

"I said I was sorry before I pushed you." Danny said defensively. "Besides, you weren't moving and we needed to hurry up. What was I supposed to do?"

"How about not push me?" She snapped back at him. Her breathing started to slow down and she ran a hand through her short curls. "I mean, I'm sorry… shit. I just have this thing about heights-" She shook her head to snap herself out of it. "You know what? It doesn't matter. You did what you had to do. I'm sorry for being pissy about it."

"Guys, not to be the odd man out here, but I've only gotten the basics of what we're doing." Travis loaded his weapon as he spoke. "So, beyond sprinting straight into what will most likely be our untimely and gruesome deaths, do we have any sort of plan?"

"Shit, I hadn't really thought about that part yet." Hancock cursed.

"Well, I know the layout of their camp, so we have something to work with." Danny checked out his own weapon, a modified rifle that had been a gift from Nora to Hancock, to make sure there were bullets already in the magazine. "They're holed up near Trinity Tower."

"That's a favorite haunt of their kind. Did you see many of them while you were scouting the place out?" Hancock inquired.

Danny shook his head. "I did see three of those mutant dogs they keep around. The good news is; there are only the three dogs and four or five muties. The bad news is that they've somehow gotten their green mitts on a missile launcher. I saw it from a distance, but it was definitely a missile launcher."

Hancock whistled. "Damn."

"Yeah, but I don't think that they have tons of ammo for it since they tend to prefer those dinky hunting rifles." He shrugged. "It could be worse, you know. They could have machine guns or a bunch of mini-nukes. I think they used up their only suicider on the attack on Diamond City, so we should be fine in that regard."

Bet looked to Hancock for guidance. "You have the most experience with this. What should we do?"

Hancock cocked his shotgun. "We'll sneak up on 'em. Muties don't have the best reaction time if they're surprised. We'll split up into teams; team one will light 'em up with pot shots and team two will circle around back to plant these." He withdrew a huge belt lined with pockets full of frag mines from the pack.

"I've got an idea." Bet's eyes lit up when she saw the mines. "We can't just throw those down willy-nilly and just hope they step on one. We'll have to make a line of them and lead them to it."

"What do you mean?" Travis turned to her. "Show us."

She grabbed a couple of rocks to take the place of the mines. "Two of us would distract the Mutants while the other two make a line of frag mines like this." She positioned Travis and Danny on the left side of the mines and she stayed on the right side with Hancock. "Then, team two would give a signal that they were ready and team one would start high-tailing it towards the wall of mines. The mutants will give chase and set off the mines."

"That sounds pretty great, and sorry to burst your bubble, but how do we make sure that none of us get blown up in the process?" Danny pointed out.

Marie picked up a small stick to draw in the dust. "We'll act like we're going to run straight at the wall of mines, but at the last minute we run at an angle away from the danger zone. Team two should have a bit of a head start, so team one would be the only ones in immediate danger."

"Another thing, what if the blasts from the mines don't kill them right off the bat?" Travis nervously rubbed his left forearm. "We'd have to start taking shots right after the blasts. Those explosions will kick up a crap-ton of dust into the air. We'd be shooting blind."

"Trust me, muties aren't hard to spot, even in a cloud of dust we should be able to pick them out. It all sounds like a decent enough plan to me. Anyone got any more objections?" No one spoke up to answer Hancock's question. "Alright, now we gotta pick teams. Our fastest runners should be on team one, which means me and-"

"Me." Travis cut in with a tense chuckle. "I..uh..I'm really good at running, actually."

Hancock nodded at the kid. Just like so many other people she'd encountered, Nora had strengthened the boy's previously weak constitution. "That leaves one last thing; the signal."

Bet pointed to the laser pistol in Travis's hands and asked him to trade weapons with Danny. "These things are pretty easy to see from a distance. He'll fire up a shot when we've finished laying down the mines. Then you guys will know to get the fuck outta Dodge."

Hancock handed the frags over to her and Danny. "Run as soon as ya let off that shot, and don't look back to see if we're followin'." His face was gravely serious. Fucking with super mutants wasn't something people like Danny, Travis, or Bet did on the reg'. He knew the probability of one or most of them getting killed was pretty high, so high that not even the most inexperienced gambler would take a chance on it. He knew what Nora would do; Nora would have ripped through the mutie camp in a blaze of glory even if she was outmatched. She would have done it because somebody had to try.

"Wait!" Bet dug a rag out of her pocket. "Hancock, may I borrow your knife?" He handed it over and she cut the rag into eight little pieces. She gave them each two pieces. "Don't forget to stuff these in your ears before the explosion." She tucked her own pieces back into her pocket. "We don't want to go deaf in the middle of a firefight."

He slid his knife back into the sheath he kept fastened to his pants. "Are we all set, then?" They looked at each other, and then nodded determinedly all at once. "Great, let's go kick some grass-green ass!"